Orange, pineapple, and grapefruit upfront followed by herbal and pine hop flavors; toasted malts; subtle oak and vanilla flavors at the end with lingering hop bitterness.

Mouthfeel

Medium-bodied and medium carbonation.

Overall

The hops are definitely the star here, but the oak softens the harsh hop bitterness. The malts are toasty, not sweet. The citrusy bitterness that lingers is pleasant and urges another sip. But beware, this 9.7% beast will sneak up on you.

The story goes like this… 21st Amendment founders Nico and Shaun need to break out of Alcatraz. And fast. The Hop Syndicate is hoarding hops in a remote warehouse, depriving the People of their right to hoppy, aromatic beer. This is Not Cool. Shaun and Nico have to do something. They need to Free the Hops!

Hop Crisis was created in defiance of the 2007 hop shortage during which many brewers were forced to skimp on hops. The alter egos of co-founders Shaun O’Sullivan and Nico Freccia are featured on the graphics on the four-pack box, telling the story of their adventure to Free the Hops.

First, they plan a daring escape through the sewer pipe, then they surf monster waves on ironing boards, and finally they attempt a high speed cable car getaway.

Hop Crisis is a 9.7% ABV, 94 IBU oak-aged Imperial IPA with big malt flavor and intense hop bitterness with an extra layer of complexity from the oak. Hop Crisis is part of 21st Amendment’s Insurrection Series, a limited edition, once-in-a-while, four-pack release of a very special beer that shows how awesome canned beer can be. Hop Crisis won the Great American Beer Festival silver medal in 2010 in the Imperial IPA category and is rated a 99 out of 100 on ratebeer.com.

Hop Crisis is brewed with Pale Malt, Munich Malt, and Dextrose along with Saaz, Amarillo and Citra hops along with a new, yet to be named experimental hop. The Imperial IPA is fermented with ale yeast and aged on oak spirals.